Bruins notebook: Donato was swimming when he got the call

Ted Donato was not at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the 1987 NHL draft, when the Bruins selected him in the fifth round.

DAN CAGEN

Ted Donato was not at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the 1987 NHL draft, when the Bruins selected him in the fifth round.

"He was swimming in a pool with his buddies when he got the call," his son Ryan Donato recalled.

Ryan's experience was slightly different. On Saturday morning, the Bruins called the younger Donato's name to select him with the 56th overall pick in this year's draft as he was sitting in the stands at the Wells Fargo Center.

"When they had the pick, I was shaking in my seat for a minute while they were waiting, and I couldn't be happier with the pick," Donato told reporters in Philadelphia.

Donato was born and raised in the Boston area. Ted is now entering his 10th season as the head coach at Harvard, a school Ryan is hoping to enroll in before the 2015-16 season.

Ryan Donato, 18, is a 6-foot, 176-pound left-hand shot. He's played the last three seasons at Dexter School in Brookline, posting 37 goals and 41 goals to lead prep school hockey with 78 points. A decision will be made if he should continue at Dexter or head to the Omaha Lancers of the USHL for one year.

Although he hasn't been officially accepted to Harvard yet, Donato hopes to play for his father in 2015-16.

"I'll talk to (the Bruins) and see what they think (about this season), and now that the draft's over, I got a weight lifted off my shoulders and I think I can make a clear decision soon," Donato said.

It's the third straight year the Bruins have drafted a local with ties to the team. They took defenseman Matt Grzelyck, the son of TD Garden bull gang worker John, in 2012, and in 2013 selected forward Ryan Fitzgerald, the nephew of Bruins assistant director of amateur scouting Tom.

The Bruins had been monitoring Donato for several years, and were impressed with his improved physique at the draft combine last month.

"When we saw him in Toronto we walked right by, I didn't expect that — he was thinned out," director of amateur scouting Keith Gretzky told reporters. "He told us that conditioning is a factor for him, but he wants to improve at that area and that will help his skating."

The Bruins' final three picks of the day were Canadian forward Danton Heinen (fourth round, No. 116), American forward Anders Bjork (fifth round, No. 146) and Swedish defenseman Emil Johnansson (seventh round, No. 206). Heinen is headed to the University of Denver and Bjork to Notre Dame.

In their five picks, the Bruins selected four forwards and one defenseman. General manager Peter Chiarelli set a template of adding more skill, although position was less important.

"I instructed our guys, I would like a little more skill, a little more offensive side," Chiarelli told reporters. "And you talk about (first-round pick David) Pastrnak and Donato — not so much Bjork — but Heinen, even Johansson pushes the puck."

Chiarelli revealed that although he has extended qualifying offers to 10 of his restricted free agents, he has yet to do so for Jordan Caron. The deadline to qualify players is Monday at 5 p.m.

Although it's possible the Bruins will still qualify Caron, they have also explored moving the 2009 first-round pick who has yet to live up to the pedigree.

"We've got one prepared, but we're not sure yet," Chiarelli said. "He's still young, he's been in and out of our lineup, and in fairness to him we've looked for another [NHL] spot for him. It wasn't out of the request of Jordan.

"He wants to stay in Boston, but at his age, he also wants a chance to play on the regular basis."

On the Jarome Iginla front that's occupying their offseason, Chiarelli said he continues to speak with agent Don Meehan.

"I spoke with him today," the GM said. "I won't go into details, but we're still talking and we'll see how it goes. If we don't get Jarome signed to fit into our salary structure, I'm not going to go out hard to find a replacement for two reasons: the annual cost and the term.

"I have to hedge in case we don't sign Jarome. I have no problem if we have to put Loui [Eriksson] on that top line. He's played on top lines before and he's played with the Sedins in the Olympics, and he was terrific. He's better suited for an upper line. If that's what we have to do then we'll do it. I'm trying to be patient with this because I really feel at one point there's going to be a player that will fit, and want to come here."

"I'm not saying Jarome doesn't want to come back [to Boston]. He's been very clear he wants to stay here, and he's working with us. We'll see how it goes."

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.